With final revisions completed before President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) inauguration in May of last year, Taiwan’s Social Movements under Ma Ying-jeou is a rare resource in English where one can get a fairly up-to-date look at Taiwan’s vibrant civil society in one go. Although academic in nature, it is valuable to anyone who wants to gain a deeper understanding than what’s reported in the news. Most people who follow Taiwanese politics know about the events covered in the book, but reading about them one after another with in-depth analysis reveals patterns and common themes that may not be as noticeable otherwise.
Edited by Dafydd Fell, director of the School of Oriental and African Studies Center of Taiwan Studies, the book is a collection of papers from a 2014 conference on Taiwan’s social movements after the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) return to power with the 2008 election of former President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
The collection provides a kaleidoscopic view of the numerous movements, many that started long before 2008 but experienced some form of change after the political shift. These include the obvious candidates such as the Sunflower and anti-media monopoly movements, but the book also includes some less-discussed events such as the anti-casino movements in the offshore islands of Penghu and Matsu as well as a chapter on Green Party Taiwan, which Fell argues blurs the line between a political party and social movement. The look at the weakening of “state feminism” after 2008 is also a unique look at the women’s rights movement, which has a rich and successful history in Taiwan. The majority of the chapters also examine the “China factor” and how changes in cross-strait policy play a role in civil society.
If your tendency is to skip the overview of a book, do not do so here as there is a reason why that section is labeled as “chapter one” and not the “introduction.” Due to the difference in format, research methods and direction of analysis for each chapter, Fell’s first chapter is an essential overview that provides background information and explains the book’s organization as well as the core themes and other elements that tie the chapters together. Journalist, researcher and former deputy news editor at the Taipei Times J Michael Cole’s subsequent chapter adds to the groundwork for the book, as he doesn’t just look at one movement in particular but investigates a general trend where protests no longer have to be massive to be successful. Fell makes the right decision in placing Cole’s chapter after his, so readers can get a more detailed overview of the post-2008 activism scene before delving into the individual movements.
Readers need to keep in mind that although they do refer to each other, each chapter is self contained. For example, Cole introduces several movements that are worth looking at for further understanding at the end of his chapter. If it were a continuous book, that would be the segue to the next topic, but here, they are not discussed until chapter 6. Other than that, the organization is logical and the topics flow well as far as theme and chronological order, although one would have to read Fell’s introduction to know for sure.
The chapters are all very comprehensive, providing extensive detail on each movement’s origins, development patterns and impact. As conference papers, the authors do more than just describe and analyze the general situation. Some are more apparent than others, but all authors have specific arguments and themes he or she is trying to prove, making it a more interesting read for those who already have a basic understanding of Taiwanese activism.
The downside of presenting the papers as self-contained chapters is that there is inevitably repetition, whether it be general background information or when the same event is mentioned in two chapters. The language is for the most part uniform and easy to read as far as academic pieces go, but some chapters are definitely drier or more difficult to read than others. For example, chapter three reads and is formatted too much like a straight up academic paper, chapter eight bombards the reader with acronyms and chapter 11 is a bit too information heavy, taking away from the narrative flow.
It’s impossible to cover everything in one book, however, but one can’t help but wonder why there isn’t a section on the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights movement, especially because it has been so relevant and visible. Fell writes that editing the book was a challenge because many conference participants were activists or scholar-activists who turned in powerpoint presentations or did not have time to write their papers. Several authors also had to withdraw from the project. Perhaps he simply could not find a committed author to discuss the issue, or there wasn’t any significant change to the movement before and after 2008.
Fell writes that he won’t be editing a book about social movements under Tsai, but hopefully someone does.
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